What's on the Menu?

It's 3pm and I'm sipping coffee. I don't normally drink coffee this late in the day, but I'm hoping it warms me up. It's a little chilly, dreary and raining again today :( Yesterday was amazingly warm and sunny, just the way spring should be!

This past Sunday would have been pretty good for a cookout but we were feeling lazy. I cooked turkey burgers on the stove. 

My new favorite thing is to sautee up some sweet onions and peppers and put them on things. Heat the frying pan up on medium/med-high heat, add a dash of olive oil, let that heat up for a min, then add sliced onion, pepper and seasoning. Gotta make sure you keep an eye on it though, and stir it, because I burned it on my first attempt!








 


Sunday, the yummy peppers and onions went on my burger.

 I've never been a big fan of peppers and onions until recently. I just went for it and ordered fajitas at our favorite Mexican restaurant a couple weeks ago and since then, I've been dying for more fajitas full of peppers and onions. They're on the menu for this Saturday!





Yes... I menu plan! I've been doing it for probably almost a year by now. I did it for a couple reasons.

First-- it eliminates the 'what should we have for dinner, we don't have anything to eat' problem.
Second-- it makes grocery shopping a million times easier.
Third-- it's easier to try new recipes if you've planned ahead.


I had this problem a lot: so many recipes on Pinterest that I wanted to try, but never had the supplies to make them.
Or: we feel like having tacos but have no ingredients for tacos.

And how many times am I going to run to the store in a week, just to buy a couple things?


That's not smart.

Here's a fairly typical menu:

I do two weeks at a time. Mondays and Wednesdays (and every third Friday) my husband works late so I don't plan anything. I eat much differently than he does :) The 'options' on the bottom of the menu are for me. I tried planning my breakfast/lunch, but I didn't really follow it. I graze throughout the day and basically eat what I feel like. So instead of wasting time trying to plan for myself, I just make sure I have a couple different ideas so I can be sure I have the ingredients.

While I'm filling out the menu, I fill out my grocery list. I divide it into categories- meats, dairy, toiletries, etc... to make it easier while shopping. Simultaneously, if I'm trying a new recipe, I print it out and clip it to the back of the menu (which goes onto the fridge) so its handy.








When I'm done with the recipe, it goes into my binder.

Divided into categories, of course.









This has been working out so well for us. It can be a little hard at first, but now that I have some good go-to recipes, it's been pretty easy. I honestly used to be so lost. It was a lot of meat and potatoes, Italian food, pizza, tacos... I got so bored!

If you love to cook and like trying new recipes, menu-planning might help you out :)

I don't have to scramble to figure out what my husband will eat for lunch at work anymore either. He almost always has leftovers he can take, and I always have sandwich supplies in case there's no leftovers.

Last two weeks' menu had mostly new recipes, so this two weeks' menu is easy- things I don't need a recipe for, like burgers, meatloaf, fajitas...




What's on the menu tonight?


Lasagna!